Kissed and Dismissed
by Billy Bob Grint
Summary: Harry Potter receives his final kiss.


* * *

In the end, all he could hear were screams, cheers, shouts, and jeers. It wasn't something he was focusing on, though. He stood, albeit with great effort given his sprained ankle, before the body of the... he refused to call it a man. The monster that tortured and ruined his life lay before him, body broken and mind addled to such an extent that it was far too gone to be retrievable. Not that anyone would want to aid in getting it back, but there it was, just the empty shell of the one person who took everything from him. Too overwhelmed to want to think about the past, he looked beyond the body to where his wand was, broken in half. Of all the things he thought he could rely on, it was his wand. All eleven inches of holly wood encasing the feather of the phoenix that came to his aid so often he lost track of count over the years; the one thing that was his clutch, practically a part of his being, was no more. A part of him thought this was a good thing, as it was a constant reminder of the bond he had with the maniac he just murdered... 

He was a murderer. He, just barely an adult, just barely out of school, had killed someone else. He had taken another soul from the earth and he had no idea how to process this. In the back if his mind he knew he would be revered for this; he would be even more of a legend than he was now for all of eternity.

Just for killing another person. The mere thought of it made him want to vomit.

Still staring numbly at the corpse in front of him, he hadn't realised that there was something approaching him. He looked up and found, to his surprise, that he was deep into the Forbidden Forest, having not known how he had gotten there in the first place. He supposed that somewhere along the battle the two of them broke away from the rest of the war and made their way into the heart of the forest outside of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was too dark for him to see what or who it was; in fact, he noticed that there was pitch-black darkness surrounding him, which he found strange having just seen flecks of light from the sunset minutes ago.

Then he felt it, so deep into his soul that he very visibly shuddered.

He knew what it was; he could sense their presence, looming and sucking all the warmth and happiness (not that he was actually feeling any), around him. Glancing back down to his slain victim, he bent down immediately, looking for Lord Voldemort's wand, not caring that it probably wouldn't work as well to protect him, but it was better than nothing.

Disgusted by the mere thought of touching the dead body, he still managed to frantically look for the wand in question, and after a few seconds of quick searching, found it beneath the body. Broken in half, just as his own.

He knew he had to run, but he had no idea which way the castle was, and it was too dark for him to possibly find a familiar path back. With every second he tried to think, wracking his brain for anything that could save him, he tried his best to ignore the chilling sensation coursing through his body as he felt their presence drawing near. Wincing as he tried to stand himself on his legs and letting out an anguished moan when he settled weight on his injured ankle, he ran as fast as his exhaustion would allow him.

He was blindly running through the forest, tripping over rocks and knots of root on the ground and getting hit in the face or chest countless times by low branches, but he had to get away. He tried to listen for anything recognisable, a voice or a motion, but nothing came for a few minutes.

It was when he heard it – the familiar rattling and ragged sound that invaded his nightmares – that he fell flat on his face, breaking his glasses as he tripped over a particularly large root on the ground. Turning himself to lie on his back, he looked up and saw, to his horror, that there were at least twenty Dementors looming above him. He gasped loudly and tried to get up, but found that he was too weak, now emotionally as well as physically and mentally, and could not find the energy to stand himself up again.

As they got closer, the visions in his head that were blurred before became far too vivid for his liking. He closed his eyes, begging them to go away and trying to think of anything happy, anything remotely positive, but without a wand he could not conjure the Patronus Charm... he had nothing to save him.

Crawling backwards to get away with whatever strength he could find in himself, he tried to get away from them, but he knew his efforts were futile. The rattling noises became louder and more pronounced, and he could hear the air being sucked from his surroundings. Letting out a pained sob, he closed his eyes, still willing all his bad memories to go away, but there was no chance.

_He heard his father's voice, telling his mother to run and save herself and him as a child... His mother's voice, loud and defiant, came next, begging Voldemort to spare his life, for he was just a baby, and take hers instead... A bright, green light surfaced into his mind next, as he heard his mother drop to the floor, as dead as his father was just minutes before she... He saw the vacant, grey eyes of Cedric Diggory looking back at him as the older boy's corpse lay in the graveyard that night, showing surprise and horror mingled together... He watched the Dark Lord rise again, then to torture him by inflicting the most physical pain he had ever endured in his entire life, screaming into the night as the Death Eaters laughed... He remembered duelling with Voldemort, seeing the echoes of his parents come of his enemy's wand to save him once more... He saw... _

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He shouted, wanting, more than anything, for the horrible memories to go away, but he felt them become stronger and clearer in his mind, as though they were happening right there in front of him.

_He saw the proud and confident face of Sirius Black, who was fighting his cousin mere feet from... The light emitted from Bellatrix Lestrange's wand, which hit Sirius straight in the chest, pushing him beyond the veil... Wide, grey eyes looked back in surprise as he fell back, lost forever to him... Random faces then came to his mind, watching them fall to their deaths, one by one - fellow students, professors, Ministry personnel, Death Eaters... parents, children, all dying before his very eyes... children..._

The last fleeting memory he consciously had had been of something that happened just hours ago. It was in the middle of the Entrance Hall of the school, where a band of Death Eaters barged in and began attacking every student in sight. The elder students had immediately told the younger years to hide in the Great Hall as the adults were to arrive, and then began to attack along with the professors. He was standing side by side with his two best friends, looking around for the leader of the pack while knocking down anyone who crossed their path. Albus Dumbledore was surrounded by about twenty of Voldemort's men, but still managed to ward them off easily before going after the group of giants that had broken through the oak doors.

He remembered bits of this day, just flashing pictures in front of his eyes, but it was the last thing he saw before he ran into the forest that would forever be painted into his mind's eye, reminding him of the biggest mistake he ever made.

_He was a few feet away from Ron Weasley, his best friend in the world, as they were fighting against the Dark Order. He heard someone scream a fair distance away from him and realised that his other best friend, Hermione Granger, was cornered by three Death Eaters. He looked over to Ron, who was staring over at Hermione with a horrified expression on his face, and Ron looked back up at him. Ron nodded to him, and he dashed off to save Hermione._

_Mere seconds after he stunned the men who attacked Hermione, the two friends turned over to Ron, who was fighting against Rodolphus Lestrange. Ron never saw Lucius Malfoy standing behind him._

_Ron also never saw the green flash that had emitted through Malfoy's wand when he uttered the Killing Curse aimed at his tall, lanky back. He watched Ron let out a final gasp before dropping to Lestrange's feet, dead before impact to the ground._

_He heard Hermione fall to her knees next to him as she stared at Ron's dead form, endless tears streaming down her face. He heard her screaming at the Death Eaters, but he didn't look down at her – he didn't have time. He merely pointed his wand out, first hitting Lestrange with a Stunning Hex, and then Lucius Malfoy with the Cruciatus Curse, blind rage coursing through his entire being as he watched the elder Malfoy writhe in pain for at least a half hour._

He knew, even after all the pain he inflicted on Malfoy, that his own would be far worse.

He had no time to grieve for his lost friend. He had to fulfill a prophecy.

He saw Ron's eyes, wide in surprise, when he felt the cold, scabby hands of the Dementor on his face. Shivering from head to toe, he knew there was no escape.

The last thing Harry James Potter remembered before his final Kiss was how he had saved a world he would never have the chance to live in.

* * *

Hermione Granger was being escorted down the hall by Healer Smethwyck, who had been in charge of the Permanent Ward that Saturday on the Creature-Induced Injuries floor at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, where she went to make her visit. He opened the door for her, and she smiled and thanked the older man before he closed the door behind her. She looked at the flowers in her hand, and then back up at the lone figure sitting in the chair at the end of the room. Hermione walked over to them and sat down on the bed next to the chair, placing the flowers in an empty vase and glancing over to her friend. 

It was particularly sunny that late July afternoon, and Hermione gazed at the boy - now a man - before her. She had to hold back a sob, as she usually did when she went to visit him, when she looked at his face.

He sat there, bright, green eyes wide as though staring at the most mortifying thing he had ever seen behind the same round glasses he had worn for so many years. Hermione made sure that they were fixed the moment he was found that night in the forest. She pushed all thoughts of that day out of her mind, or at least tried to as she watched her friend. His mouth was closed and his breathing was even. If it wasn't for the fact that his chest heaved with each intake of air, one would assumed he was as dead as... now she ireally/i didn't want to think about that night.

Hermione watched him for so long she hadn't noticed someone walk into the room. It wasn't until the intruder sat down next to her that she acknowledged their existence.

"Oh! Professor Lupin, I hadn't heard you come in! I'm really sorry about that. How are you?" Hermione asked in what she could muster as her most polite voice. Remus Lupin patted her hands, which were folded in her lap, gently and smiled warmly at her.

"I came for the same reason you did, naturally. Although he may not know what day it is, we do, and as such should celebrate it. Not every day a boy turns eighteen, or rather, he's a man now," Remus said, smiling fondly at Harry, who was still sitting in the chair and staring out into sunny London.

"He is, yes. I just had to come, even though he doesn't know we're here, but... I couldn't just abandon him, Professor. I..." At this, Hermione let out a muffled sob, and Remus immediately put an arm around her shoulder, trying to comfort the grieving girl.

"It's just," Hermione continued as she whimpered and cried onto Remus's shoulder, "It's not fair! He was supposed to defeat Voldemort and be happy, why... and what about Ron! This isn't FAIR, PROFESSOR! I LOST THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN MY LIFE... be-because of HIM. I wish I could do something, it's just..."

Remus rubbed Hermione's back soothingly, still staring at Harry as he whispered, "Hate is stronger than the grave, and I think you're beginning to understand that now."

"I don't want to hate anything; I just want my best friends back! I... I don't know what to do, Professor," Hermione said through her tears as she looked at Harry. She saw him let out a shudder and she broke down completely, crying onto her former professor's shoulder until almost dusk.

Remus escorted Hermione out of the room and gave one last look at Harry. He swore to Sirius that he would take care of Harry if anything happened, and he had failed. They all failed in the end, and had only their memories to live with.

* * *


End file.
